About
Joanna has been practising Meditation for twenty years and Classical Yoga since 2007.
She is a registered Yoga Teacher, has a BSc in Environment and Psychology, an MA in Trauma Studies and researches about Trauma Memory and Flashbacks in PTSD. She has also just completed a 3-year professional training in Somatic Experiencing ®, a specialist body centred trauma therapy. She spends a great deal of time in the natural world observing the patterns of nature and cites this as one of her greatest inspirations. A qualified healer she brings a quality of calm and insight to her work and presence with people and the world.

Somatic experiencing ® is a body-oriented approach to trauma devised by American psychologist Dr Peter Levine, which works to release the effects of traumatic shock lodged in the body. In his many years of clinical practice and research, Dr Levine found that releasing the effects of traumatic shock stored can resolve many of the symptoms of PTSD and other trauma related disorders.

An SE® session provides you with a safe place to begin to explore your trauma. You will not be required to tell your story, or to examine your past. As a body centred practice you will be encouraged instead to explore bodily sensations, emotions and areas of constriction which are happening in the present moment.

Emotions and deep muscular holding patterns may be released through tears, bodily movements or other bodily sensations which indicate that the autonomic nervous system is returning to normal. In this way, SE® works to complete self-protective survival and natural defence mechanisms which may have been overwhelmed at the time of the trauma, as well as unlocking and releasing unspent survival energy and so restoring a sense of balance, connection and equilibrium.

SE® sessions typically last an hour and happen sitting in a chair, but can also involve standing, laying down or engaging in activities designed to restore active defensive responses. Children may be more comfortable being held by their parent. The number of sessions will depend on the nature and history of a trauma, between eight and twelve sessions is more usual for single incident shock trauma. If the trauma is more developmental I may suggest additional psychotherapy to aid the healing process.

As a yoga and meditation teacher, I also incorporate SE® practices into Trauma
Based Yoga classes and workshops.